My soul glorifies the Lord! (Luke 1:46)

Dear Lord, When I look at You, I am thrown into confusion. For I see You on the Cross - naked, powerless, crucified, devoid of any intellectual prowess, helpless, thirsty, crowned with thorns, bleeding. Lord, is this God's Wisdom? Is this the wisdom that I must aim to possess? What of my plans, my intellectual knowledge that I am so proud of, all the other things I am curious to understand and know, my thirst for recognition, success, fame... ? Lord, before Your crucified figure, I am thrown into confusion. Allow me also to completely strip myself of all that I possess, and to humble myself. Allow me to become poor for your sake, weak for your sake, foolish for your sake, dumb for your sake, misunderstood for your sake, naked for your sake, stripped of everything for your sake. Lord, when I look at You in the Eucharist, again I am amazed. I see a new knowledge opening in front of Me. You are God, yet You have become Bread. What is this? What do you want to tell me? If you

In the Bible we read that Lucifer was 'a model of perfection', 'full of wisdom', 'perfect in beauty'. Further, he had a living creature to guard him. He was on the holy mountain of God. His behaviour was exemplary from the day he was created. (Ezekiel 28.12-15) However, his 'busy trading', 'multitude of his merchandise', 'abundance of trade' was what filled him with sin. (Ezekiel 28.16) O Lord, what does this trading and merchandise refer to in the spiritual world?  Does it not stand for the rapid 'give and take', the exchange of glory, which constantly occurs between our soul, God and the world? For every grace and gift, we need to render God 'perfect praise'. When the world honours us, we need to carefully, righteously, justly, surely render God the glory which is his due. (Psalms 29.1) If we fail in this, we are filled with dishonesty. 'When someone speaks on his own account, he is seeking honour for himself; but w